I'm British and in England. My initial google-fu has failed me on a search for the names he mentions, but then I'm not entirely sure what to look for. This isn't exactly a Point and Click adventure, and I'm no detective...

Last edited by Scarab on Sat Sep 29, 2012 1:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

They sometimes say, "the place where I am right now was circled on a map for me"... Unfortunately, I kind of suck at orienteering.

Yeah, that's pretty insistent. Poiroit or not, he must be connected to all of this somehow... right? I mean surely no real-world detective would post details regarding a case like that on the internet? As he himself admits, that isn't good policy, and if he were a detective with the force, it'd probably get him fired.

To be honest, I can't stand the guy. For all these supernatural shenanigans, he is too mundane.Just to confirm for the newcomers: he is Hercule Poirot. There was a placeholder post at his blog when we had just discovered it, which called him by name. So...

I have attempted to suppress my inner hyperspace future gardener crying out against all the injustice I am committing.

Theory: What if his rage whenever fictional characters are brought up is an a attempt to hide the fact that he IS one? HE knows who he is, but he is afraid (rightly so) that if he ever does anything to prove his true identity that he will be forced to leave.

Hmmm.... We need tinfoil hats here...

Normal people are the easiest to manipulate. Too smart and they have an annoying tendency to catch wind of your plans, too dumb and, in the words of a certain pirate, "You can never tell when they are about to do something incredibly...stupid."

Erm... are we talking about the same person? I was under the impression this was a thread to talk about St-Jerome, AKA Poirot.

He hasn't really drawn our attention to ANY other character's, which is why I don't get your statement.

Normal people are the easiest to manipulate. Too smart and they have an annoying tendency to catch wind of your plans, too dumb and, in the words of a certain pirate, "You can never tell when they are about to do something incredibly...stupid."

Though mostly it's using the wrong chat channel in chatrooms and MMOs.

Normal people are the easiest to manipulate. Too smart and they have an annoying tendency to catch wind of your plans, too dumb and, in the words of a certain pirate, "You can never tell when they are about to do something incredibly...stupid."

As mentioned on the TV Tropes thread by Minyalos, the tall, well-dressed man is likely the dude with the cane on the cover of the comic. Also, I think that Poirot's client is more involved in this case than we think. My Genre Savvyness is going on red alert.

Normal people are the easiest to manipulate. Too smart and they have an annoying tendency to catch wind of your plans, too dumb and, in the words of a certain pirate, "You can never tell when they are about to do something incredibly...stupid."

Possibly. Though you have to suspend disbelief to an extent with the ways detectives get their cases. After all, if the detective doesn't get an interesting case, where would the story be?

However, in this instance, I totally agree. I have read approximately 200-300 detective novels of various levels of complexity plus innumerable short stories, with almost 85% of them being Fair Play Whodunnits, and everything I know about the genre is screaming "INCOMING PLOT TWIST!"

Normal people are the easiest to manipulate. Too smart and they have an annoying tendency to catch wind of your plans, too dumb and, in the words of a certain pirate, "You can never tell when they are about to do something incredibly...stupid."

Well, I started reading at an unnaturally young age, and the very first books I read were detective stories. Been reading them ever since. Even had one of those phases where I wanted to be a detective. In retrospect, that may be partially responsible for my Awesomeness By Analysis moments.

Normal people are the easiest to manipulate. Too smart and they have an annoying tendency to catch wind of your plans, too dumb and, in the words of a certain pirate, "You can never tell when they are about to do something incredibly...stupid."

Well, I started reading at an unnaturally young age, and the very first books I read were detective stories. Been reading them ever since. Even had one of those phases where I wanted to be a detective. In retrospect, that may be partially responsible for my Awesomeness By Analysis moments.

Dude, having read THAT many detective books, even over a course of a life, is pretty impressive on it's own, if you ask me.

You could suspend disbelief in a story, but he's here, in our reality. I don't think it's a coincidence.

Who knows, if characters are appearing in reality, what are the odds of fictional RULES starting to play a role in our world, too, at least with regards to the fictional characters' actions? The missing person being found dead is probably not an unusual trope in that genre. Still, you're probably right, it's far more likely that this is NOT a coinscidence, which raises several questions, including WHY he was so afraid of Reynald (or possibly the professor who hired him).

They sometimes say, "the place where I am right now was circled on a map for me"... Unfortunately, I kind of suck at orienteering.